A Weekend in Clearwater Beach

Vamanos a la playa!

My current job is in the hospitality industry, working for a valet company in the Universal area. This means that my "weekends" are usually sometime during the regular working week. This week, my weekend was Tuesday and Wednesday and since my parents were in the Clearwater area I decided to visit them for a few days. The Clearwater/Tampa area is about an hour and a half drive from Orlando to the Gulf Coast side. They have beautiful beaches everywhere and some pretty amazing food. My parents were staying at the KOA in Palm Harbor, a little city north of Clearwater so Tuesday morning I headed that way.

Tuesday was a pretty chill day as we waited for my younger brother, Nick, to fly in from home. After he arrived, we had dinner and sat around the fire outside my mom and dad's RV. On Wednesday we decided to venture out to the beach, not to swim but to fish and bike. My mom and dad's newest hobby involves the bicycles they purchased when they first arrived down here a few weeks ago. Since then, that is all they have been doing and they are very serious about it (my mom biked over 20 miles on Wednesday and that is an average of what she has been doing since they purchased them). My dad thought it would be a good idea to drop Nick and me off on the side of the road on the way to the beach and have us bike the last 5 miles. The trek turned out to be extremely easy and we were able to bike over some bridges that led to the causeway we were fishing from. The views were amazing!

Nick declined a helmet, but I preferred that my brain stay inside of my skull during our trip.

Our destination was Honeymoon Island Park. A park that has beautiful beaches and vicious seagulls!

Side story time: last summer my friend Maria took me to Honeymoon Island Park for a relaxing day at the beach. We decided to pack a cooler with drinks and food before leaving. A few hours into our day I decided to eat the sub that I packed. As I am going to take a bite of my sandwich, a seagull literally swooped in front of my face, grabbed the ENTIRE sandwich, and proceeded to drop it into the sand so he and his little cronies could enjoy a mid-morning snack. The moral of this story is if you are going to eat while on the island, PLEASE make sure to utilize the eating areas or pay attention closely to the wildlife around you as you are eating.

(August 2017) Smiling to hide my new found disdain for seagulls

Okay, back to my weekend. Nick and my dad were fishing on the causeway so my mom and I decided to go for a bike ride around the island. On bicycles, it cost us 2 dollars per person to get in but if you were in a vehicle it would cost around 8 dollars per car to park for the day if you were going to the beach. If you are looking for a more relaxed setting I highly recommend visiting this beach! They have a concession stand and restrooms for the public which includes a place to wash off the sand at the end of the day but not much else. This provides a chill vibe if you are less into the party crowd and more into hanging back with a good book. We biked for a while around the island and managed to snap some cute photos. I offered my mom the position as my full-time photographer but apparently, the offered salary of my unyielding love was not enough to convince her to follow me around 24/7...strange.

Top Left: Me revisiting the scene of the bird snatching incident 

Top Right: Me on a swing that overlooks the beach

Bottom: Mom riding her bike 

After fishing and biking, mom and Nick decided to take a very casual 13 mile bike ride home so dad and I did some shopping! If you are interested in antique shopping you should visit the store Antiques and Uniques in Palm Harbor. Everything about the place screams adorable as you walk through the impressively large collection they have. There were two sections to the store where items covered every inch of the walls and even a charming outdoor section with of course an adorable picture opportunity. Unfortunately, I felt I looked worse for wear and since it was just my dad and myself I do not believe he would've enjoyed taking a million pictures of me like my mom happily did. I did manage to snap a couple photos outside the shop though!

After our stop at the antique store, we decided it was time for dinner in Tarpon Springs. Tarpon Springs has a HUGE Greek community and is widely known for its sponge docks. Again Maria took me here last visit, so I wanted to share the amazing Greek food with my parents. We ate at a restaurant called Hellas Bakery and Restaurant. Last time I went with Maria we had the saganaki which is cheese that is set on fire right at your table! Opa! This time I ordered the chicken souvlaki since last time I had the lamb gyro. The gyros are unlike anywhere I have had them before because they make their pitas right next door in the bakery! Of course, make sure you save room for dessert because the bakery attached to the restaurant is mouthwatering. They have an entire glass case filled with every type of dessert you can think of from ice cream to American desserts to traditional Greek baklava. Do yourself a favor and stop by Hellas if you visit Clearwater!

Mouthwatering chicken souvlaki 

Left to Right: The inside of the restaurant, the bakery right next door and Nick trying out his dessert

A painting outside one of the businesses depicting the famous Tarpon Spring sponges

Overall I had a fantastic time with my family. I always enjoy spending time with them but my next goal is to get them to move to Florida with me in the future. For now, however, the prolonged visits shall suffice me. 

To anyone reading this, all positive and constructive opinions are welcome! Disclaimer: I am by no means a professional at writing or vacation planning so if you read my blogs or take my advice do so with a grain of salt.